If you’re looking for a really common trigger point in throwers, look no further than subclavius. It’s stuck right between the clavicle (collarbone) and first rib (highlighted in red here).

In normal posture, the clavicle should have a slight upslope. In many throwers who sit in scapular depression, downward rotation, and/or anterior tilt, the clavicle is pulled down even more, as the collarbone interacts with the shoulder blade at the acromioclavicular joint. Wherever the scapula goes, the collarbone goes.

Here’s the problem: with overhead motion, the clavicle actually needs to rotate up as well – and a short, dense, fibrotic subclavius will restrict that movement.

Making matters worse, the subclavius works with the often hypertonic scalenes to elevate the first rib – so this muscle gets smashed from the bottom while it’s already bunched up from the top. And don’t forget that there are important nerve and vascular structures that course between these two bones as well, so subclavius is an anatomical structure that can’t be ignored anytime a thoracic outlet syndrome diagnosis is considered.

From a referral standpoint, trigger points in subclavius can lead to symptoms in the anterior shoulder, biceps muscle belly, and lateral forearm all the way down to the thumb side of the hand. It’s also not uncommon to see the clavicular angle increase (upslope) after good manual therapy on subclavius in someone with a low shoulder.

In short, don’t overlook this muscle just because you’ve never heard of it or it’s really small. Taking care of it can be a game changer, whether it's with quality manual therapy, self-myofascial release on the Acumobility Ball, or a combination of the two.

Also, a friendly reminder that you get 10% off at www.Acumobility.com with the coupon code cressey. Take care of that subclavius!

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Exercise selection, sets/reps & a host of others acute programming variables are all important - but nothing is as important as consistently attacking each training session w/top notch effort. Lots of inferior programs have produced results simply b/c guys worked their butts off.

Top of mind awareness isn’t enough anymore. People need to know, like, and trust you. And it takes longer than ever to get to that trust point. I recall hearing that the law of repeated exposures used to be seven interactions with a marketing message. Now, it’s probably a lot more.

If you want to be perceived as a go-to expert in your chosen field, it’s not just enough to do a good job. People need to be made aware that you’re doing a good job from a number of different angles; you have to make your expertise easier to perceive.

2. Don’t compare apples and oranges in the fitness industry (or any industry, for that matter).

As you probably know, we have Cressey Sports Performance facilities in both Hudson, MA and Jupiter, FL. The systems and overarching approach to coaching are very comparable – especially because I spend part of the year at both locations – but there are actually many differences between the two facilities.

Our professional baseball clientele comprises a larger portion of our yearly revenues in Florida, whereas Massachusetts derives more from high school athletes (especially because the high school offseason is longer in a warm weather climate).

Our Massachusetts facility is larger because we have to do more throwing and sprinting inside during the winter. Conversely, Florida weather allows us to do more of this work outside.

We have different staff members at each location. They have unique expertise and personalities.

CSP-MA opened in 2007, and CSP-FL opened in 2014. Massachusetts is a more “mature” business, which gives us a better picture of norms that allow us to compare how things are progressing from year to year.

I could go on and on about the difference, but the important takeaway is that if I sometimes struggle to compare two facilities with virtually the same name and training philosophy, why should you ever compare yourself to another gym?

What Mark Fisher Fitness has to pay for rent in New York City far exceeds what a personal trainer with a small studio in Alabama would have to pay.

Ben Bruno can train a lot more celebrities in Hollywood than a trainer can in North Dakota.

Gross revenues for a giant commercial gym in San Francisco are going to be substantially higher than what a semi-private operation in Minnesota can take in. Meanwhile, the owner of the MN facility might actually make more money and sleep better at night than the owner of the big box gym.

The point is to have a filter when you look at all the “success” you see around you in the fitness industry. There are gyms grossing millions of dollars that are scraping to get by, and others that only do a small fraction of that amount while having a huge community impact – and allowing a fitness entrepreneur to live the life he wants.

Just like you would never encourage your clients to compare themselves to other clients, supermodels, or professional athletes, you shouldn’t compare yourself to any other trainer, business, or facility. All that matters is that when you compare yourself to what you were days, weeks, months, and years before, you’ve progressed.

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I hope you had a great St. Patrick's Day. I'm in the middle of a busy few weeks of on-and-off travel, so here's some recommended reading to hold you over until I've got a chance to film some new content:

Ninety Percent Mental - I just started this sports psychology book from my good friend, Bob Tewksbury. A former MLB All-Star, Bob has gone on to work as a sports psychology consultant for multiple MLB organizations and has tons of great wisdom to share. I'm excited to work my way through it.

Gym Owner Musings - My business partner, Pete Dupuis, always has some great thoughts on the business side of fitness, and this is another excellent example.

Top Tweet of the Week

I’m excited for a lot of things related to the 2018 MLB season, but nothing compares to how fired up watching @Timcollins55 pump 97mph gets me. Strikes out the side without a fastball under 94. Hard work and perseverance rewarded. #nationalspic.twitter.com/0Z6kaId1tP

Back in March of 2016, I was visiting the Cleveland Indians Spring Training complex. While former Cressey Sports Performance pitching coordinator (and current Indians assistant director of player development) Matt Blake was giving me the tour of the complex, he asked me if I knew Dan Coyle.

"The Talent Code author? I love that book."

"Yeah, he's spending some time observing our culture as he prepares for his new book. Great guy; want to meet him?"

For the next half hour, I chatted with Dan - and realized that in addition to being a great guy (as promised!), he also had some tremendously insightful perspectives on building a great culture in business, sports, and beyond. When the book finally came out in January, I was fortunate to get an advanced copy - and absolutely loved it. And, it made me consider a lot of ways that we could work to positively impact our culture at Cressey Sports Performance. To that end, I asked Dan if he'd be willing to answer a few questions for the blog so that my readers can get a taste of what The Culture Code brings to the table.

EC: Let’s start with origins of this book. What drove your interest in exploring culture further?

It all started with a tennis ball. A few years back, I was visiting Spartak, a small Russian tennis club that has produced more top women players than the entire United States. I was focused on learning how they developed individual talent (the research later turned into The Talent Code), but while I was there I witnessed a remarkable moment. Partway through a busy day, the door squeaks open and a new player, a girl of about ten, shows up. It's her first day. The head coach, an imposing woman named Larisa, is working with other players, but she spots the new girl immediately. The girl is clearly nervous she's setting foot on the hallowed ground of Spartak for the first time. Larisa walks over carrying a tennis ball. Larisa says, "I'm glad you're here." Then Larisa says, "Can you do something for me?" The girl nods. Larisa tosses her a tennis ball and the girl catches it, and Larisa smiles. The whole interaction took ten seconds. But in those ten seconds, the girl went from nervous outsider to belonging to the group. That's when I started to wonder: what's that made of? How do groups create that sense of connection that drives their success? So you could say that tennis ball sent me on a journey around the globe.

EC: After only a few pages of reading, I was already surprised at some of the conclusions you had drawn on how culture impacts organizational success. What were your biggest surprises as you explored these concepts in preparing the book?

I'd say the power of vulnerability was the biggest surprise. Like a lot of us, I'd grown up always associating leadership with confidence and expertise. So when I saw that leaders of the very best organizations -- I'm talking SEALS Team Six, Zappos, San Antonio Spurs, Pixar -- were incredibly open about their weaknesses, I was shocked. As one leader told me "The most important words a leader can say are, 'I screwed that up.'" But when you look deeper, it makes sense. Groups that hide their weaknesses are weak. Groups that share them are strong, and having leaders be open about weakness is the best way to do that, because it gives others permission to tell the truth. One of the SEALs commanders called it a "backbone of humility." I like that, because humility isn't weak -- it's actually the best way for a group to be strong together.

EC: I know you spent time with the Cleveland Indians, San Antonio Spurs, and other athletic organizations as you prepared the book. How is elite team sport similar to small and large businesses? And how is it different?

Great question. Traditionally, those elite teams have operated on a different plane than the rest of the business world. But I think we're at a moment where the lines are converging. A lot of that has to do with the rise of data, but perhaps more has to do with the way both elite sports and elite businesses have realized that they are engaged in a learning contest. That is, how can they maximize their daily habits to produce the most growth (for players, for coaches, for managers, for everybody) in the shortest amount of time. This means they are operating from a growth mindset, using development systems, and embracing cross-domain learning like crazy. I think the one area where it remains different is in diversity. Elite sports is filled with very similar people -- mostly male. That is starting to change, and the smart teams are leading the charge. That's one area where I think we'll see a lot of change in the coming years.

EC: Let's say that the average business owner or coach reads this book and realizes that they have some serious work to do to improve their corporate or championship culture. What are the small hinges (initial change) that are going to swing the biggest doors? In other words, are there 2-3 recommendations that you think would yield the most profound changes for organizations in desperate need of improvement?

I'd suggest a few things to think about. First, think about your culture change the same way you would think about a fitness regimen -- namely, that it's a process, and it requires time, repetition, and commitment. Its success won't depend on doing something once or twice, but rather on building strong organizational habits that drive improvement day by day.

Second, undertake a culture capture to figure out where you are. Culture captures can take a lot of forms: the most common is an in-depth survey (anonymous, preferably) that unearths the strengths, weaknesses, and tensions within a culture. Two questions you might ask would be:

1) What gets rewarded around here?

2) Tell me a story about something that happens in this group that doesn't happen anywhere else.

This is also a good opportunity to help define your priorities: what comes first? What comes second? Third?

Third, encourage leaders to express vulnerability. For change to happen, leaders need to send a clear and powerful signals -- and there's no more powerful signal than a leader asking their group what they can do better. One way to do that is by sending a simple email: What do you want me to keep doing? What do you want me to stop doing?

Closing Thoughts

The Culture Code is one of the few self-development/business books that I think has universal application and is therefore a good read for just about anyone. Everyone - regardless of title - is part of multiple cultures in their daily lives and can derive strategies for optimizing them from this book. I'd highly recommend giving Dan's book a read.

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Here's an exercise we came up with this offseason in the middle of a training session with NL Cy Young Award Winner Max Scherzer of the Nationals - and it quickly became a "keeper" for his programs moving forward.

Max has gotten pretty strong with lateral lunges, and the kettlebell/dumbbell goblet set-up doesn't work all that well once you're past an appreciable amount of weight. Likewise, holding the weight between the legs drives a more kyphotic (rounded shoulders) posture and can limit range-of-motion. Enter the landmine lateral lunge, a great option for getting strong outside the sagittal plane.

A few quick tips:

1. Sit back into the hip without the toes lifting up.

2. Keep the head/neck in neutral.

3. Make sure you're wearing shoes with good lateral support so that you aren't rolling over the sides.

Enjoy!

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Bought-In - I posted a guest blog from Brett Bartholomew earlier in the week in light of the release of this new coaching resource from him. I've since had a chance to spend some time going through it, and it's been excellent. I'd highly recommend you check it out if you'd like to delve more into the coach-athlete relationship and optimizing adherence from your athletes.

The Right Way to Stretch the Pecs - I saw someone really cranking on a pec stretch the other day, and it reminded me of this article I wrote for T-Nation nine years ago. The content still applies, even if I'm getting really, really old.

Top Tweet of the Week

Lyon Richardson: 93-97mph last night & struck out 11/12 hitters he faced (0 baserunners). Hit a HR, too. Most impressive part of his weekend, though, is that he was back in the gym at 9am today. Many athletes say they “want it,” but few appreciate how much work “it” really takes. pic.twitter.com/geLmkJkniP

Today, I have a guest post from Brett Bartholomew, an outstanding strength and conditioning coach who has taken a huge interest in the art of "getting through" to athletes. I find the motivation aspect of coaching to be fascinating, and that's why I enjoy Brett's stuff so much. This post is timely, as enrollment in Brett's new online course, Bought-In, is open through the end of this weekend. I'm reviewing it myself and it is absolutely outstanding; I highly recommend you check it out. Enjoy! -EC

Coaching is teaching. And one’s level of effectiveness in teaching is not evaluated solely by what they (the instructor) knows, but rather by what their students understand.

Successful behavioral interventions are anchored via successful social interactions. Seems simple enough, right? Wrong. While the mantra may be straightforward, the reality is that communication and human behavior is a complex subject. If this were NOT the case, we wouldn’t have researchers in the space of behavioral economics and/or psychology who are awarded the Nobel Prize. It just doesn’t seem as important to many of us as strength and conditioning coaches because the topic has not been a focal one in our industry.

You see, we have been focused on trying to optimize human movement (and rightfully so), but we have forgotten to also emphasize human behavior.

We do still actually coach people, right?

In general, people are puzzles of needs, wants, drives and insecurities. It's our job as coaches to find or even be that missing piece for them. And in doing so, we can gain their trust and respect all while augmenting engagement and effort which will only help our training programs become more effective in the long-run. This is not manipulation; it is adaptation! Personalized coaching strategies are the most direct way towards driving the behavioral interventions that we need to take place, so our athletes have a better chance at reaching their goals.

Below are some quick and easy-to-use tips that you should abide by whenever you are leading a session. They may seem obvious, but common sense is not common practice, and learning how to communicate in a versatile manner requires just as much fine-tuning as any other aspect of our craft.

1. Listen!

This is by far one of the most neglected communication strategies in the world – which is why a lack of it has contributed to everything from failed relationships, to people losing their jobs, to major catastrophes throughout human history. Sound a bit dramatic? Good, because the ill-effects of not being willing to close your mouth and open your ears are parallel to you as a strength coach writing a program without being aware that an athlete under your care has sickle-cell trait or cardiac issue.

[bctt tweet="Coaching is a partnership between you (the coach) and the athletes you serve."]

That means flexible communication is a must. Besides, everything we do as coaches is a screen of some sort, which should provide us with data (both objective and subjective) that we can use to enhance the quality of care we provide to our athletes. We spend so much time learning about the history of an athlete’s body, but far too little time learning about their mind. You may be the training expert, but only they know what it is like to be them. You will also learn far more from them than you think.

I know that Stephen Covey quotes have been worn out, but there is a reason for that. Perhaps one of his most powerful phrases is, "most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply." There is often no guiltier culprit than the strength coach as they often feel rushed due to the time and logistical constraints placed upon them while working with large groups or in general. Ask strong, open-ended questions, listen to the answers and write them down or record them just like you would data in a performance profile. Drawing upon this information will help you out in more ways than you think.

2. Speak Their Language

Great coaching is about figuring out an athlete’s purpose and matching it with an evidence-based process. To do this, build off of what your athletes tell you and relate everything you do back to their goals and specific drives. Ask yourself: what do they say they care about most? Why does that matter to them? Learning how to do this efficiently and effectively takes more practice than some care to admit. It is, however, especially effective since you are showing athletes that you are attuned to their goals and have an understanding of what matters most to them. When you speak their language, you scale your message by essentially “talking in color” and painting a vivid picture in their own mind’s eye. This is what leads to increased efficiency while you are on the floor coaching or when you are reviewing their performance results from a previous phase and getting ready to set new goals. It will also help them learn since the information is “stickier” and more personal, which both saves you time as a coach and adds greater significance to the very task you are trying to get them to perform.

3. Know Their Sport

As a strength coach, you should be doing this anyways, since the unique demands of their sport are in part what will influence the training programs that you write as well as some of the skills that you teach. However, even if you do understand the biomechanical and physiological aspects of the sport, there are still various cultural and psychosocial aspects to consider. Every sport has its own unique "cultural" aspects that can affect player personality as well as their perception of what constitutes success. This is where a better understanding of human nature becomes even more critical.

Going back the previous tip, it is hard to "speak a language” if you don't understand the geography of its origins. This metaphor has real meaning since aspects of their upbringing will also influence how they behave in groups, especially as it pertains to working with individual sport athletes vs. team sport athletes. Just as you need to be aware of the myriad of variables that can throw off the success of your training program (poor diet, time constraints, sleep issues etc), you need to keep a keen eye on the "not so obvious" elements of performance which can often be neglected in favor of the typical or more focal aspects of what we do.

4. Be Transparent and a Bit Vulnerable

This can be an uncomfortable one for many, but all I am saying here is that building trust is not a one-way street. You cannot expect to be able to bombard your athletes with both questions and information and expect them to never ask you questions in return, or for you to have to volunteer some information about yourself as well. Not doing so leads to a parasocial relationship, which is the antithesis of what you want when aiming to become a more effective coach. A true professional always welcomes mutual inquiry. By its definition, coaching is a social process; coaches are at the epicenter of it. It was the researcher Pierre Bourdieu who in 1997 first ascertained that the coaching process (as well as coaching practice in general) is to be considered a form of "regulated improvisation." In his 1996 text, Sociological Theory, Dr. George Ritzer observed that effective practice is neither entirely objectively determined nor the unbridled product of free will. Yes, you heard that right: it is an imperfect practice that can only be refined by your willingness to get your hands dirty and enhance your social skills as well as your technical skills.

5. Alter Your Perspective

It is not uncommon for strength coaches to be viewed by their athletes as someone who "doesn't get it." Not every athlete likes lifting weights or various other forms of physical training and can often view the performance side of things as just another task to "check off" so they can get back to playing their sport or living their life. You don't have to agree with this point of view, but you need to be cognizant of it if you are going to have any hope of reaching your athletes on a truly meaningful and influential level.

One of my favorite movies that I used to watch with my father growing up was "Trading Places," which starred Dan Akroyd and Eddie Murphy. In the movie, Akroyd played a wealthy commodity broker and Murphy was a broke hustler always looking for his next con. Through both an odd and humorous turn of events, the two ended up switching places and throughout the rest of movie eventually learned the error in regard to their previous biases and behavior. The movie ended with the both of them in a far better place than either were in the beginning, imbued with a renewed sense of perspective, compassion and wisdom. I bring this up because right now it seems like one of the biggest things that coaches like to incessantly complain about is “millenials” and how they behave/interact. I get it, but at the same time, it’s my opinion that grumbling about how it’s hard to coach someone from a different generation is akin to whining that you can’t write a good program because you don’t have enough equipment. Be creative, get outside of yourself and find a way.

These tips serve as only a small thumbnail of the communication strategies that you should be using throughout your coaching career. In my 5-week online course Bought-In, I discuss over 25 more research-driven influence techniques, coaching strategies and behavioral interventions that you can call-upon while working with athletes of any age, any sport and anywhere in the world. All of which will help you become a better coach.

The course will only be open until midnight this coming Sunday (3/12), but by joining you have lifetime access to all content and all other materials on my Art of Coaching site. Other topics include:

• The influence factors that shape athlete behavior
• How we ourselves get in the way of becoming better coaches
• Frameworks and models to get a better understanding of your athletes + how to engage with them
• Influence tactics that can help you change people’s attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviors

The applied section of Bought-In also includes coaching evaluations, staff-development manuals, and a number of other resources which allow you to actually put the information to use as opposed to mindlessly consuming it.

I hope to see you there!

References

Bourdieu, P. (1997). Outline of a theory of practice. London: Cambridge University Press.

Ritzer, G. (1996). Sociological theory. Singapore: McGraw Hill

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Pitchers can struggle for a number of different reasons, whether it's command, velocity, "stuff," or actual pain/soreness. Historically, when players run into these tough patches, they've been conditioned to look to their mechanics first - and often unnecessary modifications are made on this front before looking deeper into the situation. With that in mind, I thought I'd use today's post as a quick look at some of the other "big picture" considerations.

1. Health

Very simply, if you hurt, it will alter movement patterns. It will change the way that you prepare and, in turn, execute pitches.

When it comes to optimizing pitching performance, the challenging thing (and this will sound crazy) about pain is that it can be covered up. Anti-inflammatories/pain killers can make symptoms and allow throwers to get away with bad patterns over an extended period of time.

2. Movement Quality

There are also instances where an athlete may have a significantly out-of-whack movement pattern, but without any symptoms. The goal with these individuals is obviously to optimize movement quality to get improvements without having to touch mechanics - and before pain kicks in.

Don't take mechanics solutions to athleticism problems. Before tinkering w/mechanics, make sure a pitcher can jog to mound w/out tripping.

Fatigue both acutely (within a game) and chronically (over the course of a season) can markedly impact a pitcher's consistency. It's a topic that also warrants much deeper digging, too, as it can be impacted by nutrition, initial work capacity, sleep quality, environmental conditions, and a host of other factors. We know that fatigue impacts not only mechanics, but also the motor learning we're trying to achieve in our preparation work.

4. Extrinsic Factors

Some guys pitch (and feel) terribly in cold weather. For others, really hot, humid days are the problem.

Pitching on a poorly maintained mound can minimize the effectiveness of even the most elite pitchers.

Throwing to an inferior catcher - or in front of a bad umpire - can have a dramatically negative impact on pitchers' success.

Only some of these factors can be modified, but the important thing is being able to recognize them so that you don't automatically assume that the struggles are coming from a different category from this list.

5. Feel

This is likely the most subjective and hard-to-describe issue. Some days, guys just don't have "feel" for a particular pitch on a given day, week, or month. At the younger levels, it is usually secondary to one of the first four factors I've outlined. At the more advanced levels, though, you almost have to chalk it up to a bit of random variation. Even the best pitchers on the planet have some considerable variation in their spin rates and extension numbers from pitch-to-pitch (as I outlined in a previous blog, Are Pitching Mechanics Really That Repeatable?)

I think this "feel" discussion reminds us that we don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water just because a guy struggles in one outing. When someone is struggling on the mound, look for trends and ask a lot of questions.

Wrap-up

These factors don't exist in isolation. For example, sometimes a physical issue (e.g., shoulder pain) can become a mechanical issue (e.g., lower arm slot). Moreover, thoracic outlet syndrome would qualify as a condition that spans the health, movement quality, feel, and fatigue realms.

Best thoracic outlet syndrome quote I’ve ever heard: “Throwing should be like riding a bike, but I can’t even find the pedals.”

There is a time and place for mechanical corrections, but before you go down that path, check these factors out first. We apply this sequential approach to development with all of our pitchers, aiming to identify "big rocks" early on that will deliver the most profound performance improvements.

This comprehensive approach to developing pitchers will be utilized heavily in our Elite Collegiate Baseball Development Summer Program. For more information, click here.

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I hope you're having a great week. We brought our daughters to Disney for the first time, so it was a quiet content creation week for me. Luckily, I've got some good stuff from around the 'Net for you:

Neck Pain and Headaches - This guest post from Dr. Michael Infantino on Tony Gentilcore's blog was outstanding; it included some solid background information and good strategies to employ.

Baseball Players Historically Have Shown Great Strength - This was an interesting look at the history of strength in the game of baseball from Tim Kurkjian at ESPN.com. I think it overlooks the fact that wrist and hand strength doesn't really matter if it isn't supported by hip strength, but it's still a good read and message about the direction the game has taken.

EC on the Robertson Training Systems Podcast - I'm joining Mike Robertson on his podcast this upcoming week, and it reminded me to reincarnate my last appearance on the show - which was February 2016. Give this a listen and it'll prime you for our discussion of what's changed over the past two years.

Top Tweet of the Week -

Disappointing to see so many TV features on how certain Olympians were "destined for greatness" from a young age. Completely undermines long-term athletic development approaches, discourages athletes from working hard to become late bloomers, and encourages early specialization.